Paris , France -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- French lawmakers Tuesday recommended a partial ban on any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa , the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women .

The ban on the `` voile integrale '' -- which literally means `` total veil '' -- would apply in public places like hospitals and schools , and on public transport , a French parliamentary commission announced .

It would also apply to anyone who attempts to receive public services , but it would not apply to people wearing the burqa on the street , the commission said .

The commission stopped short of recommending a full ban because not all of the 32 commission members could agree on it .

They will now recommend that Parliament pass a resolution on the partial ban . Such a resolution , if passed , would not make the wearing of a full veil or burqa illegal , but it would give public officials support when asking people to remove it .

Commission members began their work six months ago after French President Nicolas Sarkozy controversially told lawmakers that the full veil was `` not welcome '' in France .

Sarkozy said the issue is one of a woman 's freedom and dignity , and did not have to do with religion .

The French National Assembly assembled a cross-party panel of 32 lawmakers to study whether women in France should be allowed to wear the burqa -- or any other full veil , including the niqab , which shows only the eyes . The commission also studied whether such full veils pose a threat to France 's constitutionally mandated secularism .

Commission members heard from 200 people from all areas of French society , including Muslims , though they only heard from one woman who wears a veil .

By recommending a ban on full veils in public places such as hospitals and schools and by anyone receiving public services , the commission members said they wanted to assist those working with members of the public when asking that full veils be removed . That would include school teachers who meet children 's parents or ticket agents at train stations .

A date for the vote in Parliament has not been set , though it is unlikely to happen before regional elections which are scheduled for March 14 and 21 . Parliamentary majority leader Jean-Francois Cope said this week he believed the resolution will pass .

Any law directed at full veils is likely to be challenged in the courts both in France and at the European level .

More than half of French people support a full ban , according to a recent opinion poll . The Ipsos poll for Le Point magazine found 57 percent of French people said it should be illegal to appear in public wearing clothes that cover the face .

That 's despite government estimates that less than 2,000 women in the country actually wear the full Islamic veil .

France has about 3.5 million Muslims , representing about six percent of the population , according to research by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life . The country does not collect its own statistics on religion in accordance with laws enshrining France 's status as a secular state .

French lawmakers believe the burqa is a growing phenomenon beneath which lies a not-so-subtle message of fundamentalism .

Those who advocate the ban say women are often forced to wear full veils by the men around them -- husbands , fathers or brothers -- and that it is a sign of subjugation .

However , women who actually wear the veils deny that .

`` You are going to isolate these women and then you ca n't say that it is Islam that has denied them freedom , but that the law has , '' said Mabrouka Boujnah , a language teacher of Tunisian origin .

Boujnah , who at 28 is about to have her first child , says she came to wearing a full veil gradually , after wearing headscarves as an teenager . She said she believes a law against full veils would take away fundamental rights of Muslim women .

She and her friend Oumkheyr , who would not give her last name , say they prefer to cover their faces out of piety . The women , both French citizens , say they are only following their religious beliefs and France should respect that .

But even some Muslims in France think the full veil goes too far .

There is nothing in the Quran that directs women to cover their faces , said Imam Hassen Chalghoumi , who runs the Islamic center in Drancy , a Paris suburb . He said it is ridiculous to do so in France .

France already has a law against Muslim girls wearing headscarves in state schools . It sparked widespread Muslim protests when the French Parliament passed the law in 2004 , even though the law also bans other conspicuous religious symbols including Sikh turbans , large Christian crucifixes and Jewish skull caps .

In 2008 , France 's top court denied a Moroccan woman 's naturalization request on the grounds that she wore a burqa .

France is not the only European Union country to consider banning the burqa . Dutch lawmakers voted in favor of a ban in 2005 , although the government at the time left office before legislation could be passed .

-- CNN 's Jim Bittermann in Paris contributed to this report .

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French lawmakers propose ban on burqa in some public places including hospitals and schools

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Inquiry follows comments from President Sarkozy that the veil is `` not welcome '' in France

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Government estimates less than 2,000 women in France wear the full veil

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More than half of French people would support a ban according to a recent poll